


all the leaves are brown

by amako



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Family Bonding, Fix-It, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Konoha shinobi are all mother hens, M/M, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family, Time Travel, highly dysfunctional people, the Bloody Mist is the butt of all jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-12-20 17:42:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11925957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amako/pseuds/amako
Summary: They call her Honeytrap Haruno, and like every awful nickname given to the elite of Konoha's force, it sticks.





	1. How it begins

Her laugh is a bitter one and the smile on her scared face never reaches her eyes. The old wound, now sealed up but ugly and large, crosses her mouth and changer her most joyful expressions into a grotesque mask. They got used to it. Just like they got used to the pink hair in two low pigtails and the seals tattoed on her arms. She's a drinker and not a day goes by without her ending it in bar, drinking her weight in sake.

The Yondaime promoted her to jōnin two days after she first set foot into the village. No one besides him knows where she comes from, but rumor has it that she's from the Bloody Mist and a part of the failed coup against the Mizukage. The Yin Seal on her forehead is another taboo subject only discussed in shady bars when sake replaces the blood in tired shinobi veins.

They call her Honeytrap Haruno, and like every awful nickname given to the elite of Konoha's force, it sticks. The humour isn't lost on her and she can't help snorting in laughter every time she hears it. She spends most of her time with the Nara Clan Head and the Uchiha invite her every Friday for supper.

When the Kyūbi attacks, she saves countless lives by preventing buildings from collapsing on people. You know. With her bare hands. She's on her knees, a three-floor house resting on her shoulders, when Minato sacrifices himself to seal the demon into his newborn son.

At his and Kushina's funeral, she grits her teeth and lights an orange paper lantern. Three weeks later, she is officially the adoptive mother of one Uzumaki Naruto. The Hokage mantle goes to Shikaku, who sighs but accepts nonetheless. Life goes on.

They send her on weeks-long missions and she leaves Naruto to Fugaku and Mikoto. The boy grows up alongside the Uchiha heirs and every time she comes back bloody and exhausted, she just hugs him.

Shimura Danzō is murdered by a rogue ANBU on a cold night of fall, and the ex-black ops has already poisoned himself when they find him. The village mourns the loss of one of its Elders and Sarutobi is named in his place.

She's turning twenty-nine when Naruto graduates the Academy one year early. He's assigned to a genin team with Uchiha Sasuke and Senju Nagare, under Copy-nin Kakashi. She helps her son prank his brand new teacher and prints on a purple shirt the picture of a glittery Kakashi. She wears it every time she goes to the Jōnin Station.

She frequently invites Maito Gai and his genin team to diner. At this point, Naruto and Sasuke are commutable in their own households. It's not a surprise to find him playing with Tenten and Nagare, while Neji and Naruto are in another one of their stupid challenges that remind Gai of his and Kakashi's relationship. Lee is often happy to just spar with the two jōnin or help with the cooking.

Naruto is sent on his first C-rank to Kiri and the rumors about her Mist parentage flare up again. She finds shelter in T&I, where her reputation and rank allow her free-access and a healthy dose of fear mixed with respect. Shikaku assigns her to the office part-time and she enjoys privately the mind numbing work of sorting and filling forms.

Her son comes back with a missing ring finger and a nasty burn on his forearm. For the first time since she joined Konoha, rage is the only emotion on her sharp features. She doesn't realize how far she's gone until Morino Ibiki punches her in the jaw and sends her crashing into a nearby wall. They spend the afternoon sparring and when she's done, she takes Naruto out for ramen and tells him about the time her late brother stuck a kunai in his hand to get rid of poison. The next time he looks at his burn scar, he smiles.

Somehow, the sparring sessions with Ibiki become a weekly thing. Uchiha Itachi quits ANBU and joins T&I, taking the paperwork part of her job. She goes back to the active roster, and still hugs Naruto when she comes back. Kakashi tells her about his intention to sign up his team for the chūnin exams in Kiri. She rolls her eyes in advance at the rumors, but agrees with the Copy-Nin.

At their next encounter, she almost breaks Ibiki's arm when he asks about the Bloody Mist and if she's really from Wave.

The following week, he accidentally cuts off one of her pigtails. She has a full-blown panic attack right in the middle of the training ground. He carries her to her home and burries her under warm blankets and comfortable clothes. He vanishes not long after, but a cup of tea is waiting for her when she comes out of her nest.

Naruto leaves for Wave and she promises to go see him at the last round matches. He swears to make her proud and she believes it.

Then starts a passive-agressive exchange of food between Ibiki and her. He sends take-out to be delivered to her front door, but only picks vegetables she hates. She answers by making him chocolates and filling them with plum alcohol, to which he's conviniently allergic.

She ties her shorter hair in a bun and ignores the pinched look Ibiki gets every time he sees it. One day she complains about the unpractical lenght to Izumo and finds food that she actually likes on her door step the next morning.

She invites Ibiki to come with her to the final rounds. They leave at dawn and travel for three days straight, alongside a few parents coming to support their kids. For every jab he makes about the Bloody Mist and her "foggy past", she adds a senbon in his sleeping bag.

Both her and Ibiki have a flee-on-sight warrant, and the extensive search at the gates makes them miss Nagare's fight. She wins, but Sasuke looses his first match and sits with them on the bleachers. Naruto fights against a Sand genin and wins by punching his head into the wall. Nagara looses her second fight against a Konoha kid, but her orange-clad son keeps going.

His third match proves to be too much for him, when a well-crafted genjutsu makes him pass out. In the end, the three of them get promoted and she buys them diner. They go back to Konoha and that means resuming their sparring sessions.

When she almost kills Ibiki after a particularely vicious flashback, she decides that enough is enough.

He comes for a cup of tea and a game of shogi and ends up in her bed. Then in her living room. And against her bathroom door. And on the kitchen floor. There was a lot of pent up tension to deal with.

When he slips tired fingers through her sweaty hair, she barely flinches. His scars are almost as ugly as hers and she kinda likes it. Ibiki is from T&I and one of the most loyal shinobi in the village. It's a terrible idea. And yet she starts talking.

She says that in another life, she was the Godaime's apprentice and that she healed like she breathed. She explains how the Uchiha were slaughtered and on whose orders. She says that Konoha was destroyed, not once, but twice. She tells him the story of the Fourth Great War. She tells him how they lost and how they used Uzumaki seals to send her back in the past. She cries when she tells him about everyone she lost and how she can't heal people anymore.

She says that her name is Sakura and when he asks if this is what he should call her, she whispers that she'd like that very much.

 


	2. Chuunin Exam + 5 months

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on, the chapters won't be posted in chronological order. You shouldn't have any problem understanding, since it was meant to be that way. However, if you prefer to read it in the right order, just check the chapters' title. They are marked according to the timeline (which we all know is a bit wonky in canon, so bear that in mind.)

"Naruto! Get back here, you little punk!"

 

His giggles are the only answers. She groans and rolls her eyes, flipping the bird to Ibiki who's laughing behind her. Sighing heavily, Sakura sits back in her chair and resumes eating her dinner. Ibiki is hiding a smile behind his chopsticks but she doesn't comment on it. What remains of Naruto's prank is dripping down the walls, in all its obnoxious glitter and green paint glory.

Sakura barely has time to eat a mouthful of rice before she hears yelling coming from the bedrooms. With a snarl, she pushes back her chair and goes to the noise. There is a loud crash and the bedroom door is slammed open. A blond kid with a bloody nose rolls out of the room, soon followed by a screaming Neji. His small fist ends up against Naruto's jaw and they roll once more in the corridor.

Sakura closes her eyes, her chopsticks breaking in her hand. Ibiki quietly stops eating, bracing himself just in case. But this isn't a flashback or a bad memory.

 

"I'm going to hang you by your feet in the forest of the death! Hyūga, in the corner and face the wall, _you're grounded_! Naruto, you come here and wash the wall. If I hear a sound from you, I'm asking Gai to train you for the next month!"

 

Neji grumbles something and Sakura frowns, baring her teeth. "Do you have something to say?"

"You can't ground me. 'm not your kid."

"Yeah? Watch me. Hiashi gave me blanket permission because somehow you keep appearing in my house to get your ass kicked by my son." Naruto starts snickering at that. So fast that her hand guest blurry, Sakura throws Ibiki's chopstick at the wall where it pins his sleeve to the green paint. "What did I say about making a sound?"

 

Ibiki silently mourns the loss of his chopstick and stares longingly at his ramen bowl. Sakura can't cook to save her life, but her neighbour took pity on her and sometimes offers her homemade ramen. Ibiki always manages to invite himself in on those days.

 

"Why didn't anyone stop me when I signed the damn paperwork?"

"Because half of the force is terrified of you and the other half didn't give a fuck at the time? Because you're the only one who matches his brand of crazy? Because you're actually a good mom? Take your pick."

"Shut up. I didn't ask for your opinion."

"Sure you didn't. And Aoba isn't fucking Hatake."

"I did not need to know that."

 

Ibiki smirks before getting up to get two sets of chopsticks. They finish dinner quickly, with Neji still pouting in his corner and Naruto making more of a mess than cleaning anything.

As Sakura is gathering the bowls, there is a knock on the door. She raises an eyebrow. All of the people she knows are shinobi and most of them would use the window. She puts everything back on the table and goes to answer the door. Neji is peeking over his shoulder, obviously curious. Sakura sends him a murderous glare and he goes back to staring at the wall. She opens the door, her left hand going instinctively to her weapon pouch.

 

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for Honeytrap Haruno."

 

She slams the door in the man's face and stomps back to the kitchen.

 

"You deal with this shit, I'm going for a walk."

 

Ibiki frowns. In Sakura language, that means punching stuff and possibly screaming and crying until she's too exhausted to go on. She already has one leg out of the window when he catches her wrist. She looks at him with murder in her set jaw and despair in her eyes.

 

"Stay."

"Let go of me, Morino."

 

They both know she could rip his arm if she wasn't careful enough. Escaping his grip is nothing. And yet she doesn't move. He goes a step closer and looks her in the eyes. Sakura is about to bolt, her breathing getting quicker by the second. Ibiki takes notice of Naruto, leaning past the doorframe and looking distraught at seeing Sakura's face.

 

"Come on."

 

He tugs gently at her wrist and she slips inside until she's standing in front of him.

 

"Please let go of me." She looks ready to cry and he immediately releases her. She tightens her fists, likely trying not to hug herself.

"Can you tell me?" Ibiki doesn't break eye-contact and tries to keep a steady face. She needs it more than comfort right now.

"I know him. Knew him. Whatever."

"Yeah?"

"That's Momochi Zabuza."

"What? The Demon of the Mist?"

"Under a henge, yeah."

"What the fuck. Seriously, Haruno, what the fuck."

"He died for us. Kind of. Well, he died. Not sure about the "for us" part though. Anyway."

"You're babbling."

"Maybe I am, so what. He just asked for Honeytrap Haruno. I guess I'm fucked."

 


	3. Minato's nomination + 1 week

"Can I help you?"

"Good morning, Haruno-san. My name is Yamanaka Inoichi, I work in Intelligence. Can I ask you a couple of questions? I promise you're not in trouble."

"Alright, come inside. Would you like some tea?"

"That would be great, thank you."

"So, how can I help you? I'm afraid my husband is on a mission, if you wanted to talk to him."

"I know, don't worry. I'm interested in the history of you clan, actually. If I'm not mistaken, the Haruno adopted your husband when you married him, right?"

"Yes. Kizashi thought I would be more accepted that way, if he, a Konoha shinobi, took a foreign name."

"Your clan isn't from Konoha then."

"No, not really. There is a small branch there, sure, but the main clan is from Iron. Though if I remember my lessons well, there is an important branch in Kiri."

"Kiri, you say?"

"The main family in Iron is civilian, just like the one in Konoha. But in Wave? They're shinobi."

"And does all your family sports your... colourings?"

"Oh, you mean my hair? Unfortunately, yes. I believe the Haruno were once a branch of the Uzumaki clan in Uzushio, around the time Mito-sama moved to Konoha."

"Thank you very much, Haruno-san. You've been most helpful. And congratulations."

"Oh, you've noticed? It doesn't really show much, and it's already the sixth month!"

"Do you know what to expect?"

"I'm having a baby boy!"

"Well, congratulations again, and have a good day!"

"You too, Yamanaka-san, you too."

 

"Did you hear that? They say she's from Kiri!"

"No way! You bet your ass that's why she's mental."

"Yeah, no kidding. Seen her face? She's from the Bloody Mist, that's for sure."

"I heard you have to kill your opponent to become a genin!"

"No wonder she's terrifying."

"Have you seen her Bingo Book page? She has a flee-on-sight warrant!"

"What the fuck. The Hokage is crazy to keep her."

"Yeah but think about the damage she could do for us in the war."

"The war is almost over."

"With her on our side? We'll be home in a week."

 


	4. Chuunin Exam + 2 months

She wakes up screaming, burning tears following the scar on her mouth. Her nails dig bloody pathways into the delicate skin of her cheeks and she's still screaming. The wretched sound slowly morphs into deep sobs, shaking her shoulders and making her grasp for air. There is a slaughterhouse in her eyes, where memories become nightmares, and nightmares become her reality.

Sakura rises from her bed and goes to the small kitchen. She makes tea as she cries for everything she lost. She goes to drink it on the roof of her apartment and she watches the sunrise. She doesn't go back to sleep.

When Naruto barges into the kitchen, she's in a sour mood. It had been almost a week since the nightmares last plagued her sleep and she has been far from missing them. Now Sakura is tired and hurting and if her temper was a thing of legend _before_ it's nothing compared to her behaviour in this new life.

It's seven in the morning and Naruto is far too bright, happier than his counterpart has ever been. His blond hair is stained with blood and half of the skin of his face is missing but that's how she remembers him, not how he appears in her small kitchen when he knocks over a chair in his rush to get to her. It's not an excuse, it's an explanation, and that's why on this beautiful morning, Sakura snaps.

 

"Kāchan! Good morning!"

"Go away, Naruto, I'm not in the mood!"

 

Sakura clenches her fists because the wave of rage going through her is terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. She knows how unfair she is, but she can't help it. She feels sick.

 

"But—"

"Leave me alone!"

"Whatever! I'm going back to my room."

 

Sakura pretends not to see the brightness in his eyes and the upset look on his face. She fails.

 

Later that morning, when she's calmed down and is trying to read a book, guilt churning at her insides, Naruto comes down again. Ibiki arrived some time before and is browsing through her scrolls. She's waiting for Naruto before going to train with him, because she wants to apologise. The kid has a bruise on his cheek and a black eye. Sakura is on her feet in a second, already kneeling to examine his face. Naruto brushes her hands away with a frown and goes straight to the kitchen.

She feels even worse when she sees him going for the cup ramen, because she didn't make him breakfast and he must be starving. Sakura sits at the table and struggles to come up with something to say that won't make her sound even more like a dick than she already is.

 

"What happened to you, Naruto? Did you fight with the Hyūga brat again?"

" 's not a brat," the kid mumbles around his chopstick.

"I'm sorry?"

"I said Neji isn't a brat!" And this time, Naruto looks angry.

"Watch it," she says playfully, "or Hiashi might actually take a liking to you if you go on complimenting his son."

"Well at least he would like me," Naruto spits, pushing his ramen away with a dejected look on his face.

"I'm not sure what you're implying, Naruto, but you're wrong—"

 

Sakura stumbles on her words, her mind blanking because how did they get there? Is that how Naruto has been feeling all this time? And she went and acted like a bitch this morning, taking all of her anger and frustration on the poor kid. Ibiki, forgotten, watches the scene from a corner of the room and purses his lips.

 

"Yeah, right," Naruto whispers as he leaves the table.

"Hey, we're not done speaking!" Sakura says, following him.

"Whatever."

"Naruto! You're acting like a spoiled child right now."

"Don't pretend like you give a shit."

"Okay that's enough, you're grounded. Go to your room."

"I don't have to listen to you! You're not my mom!"

 

Naruto turns around and runs to the window where he promptly disappear. Sakura freezes on the spot, a sick pallor coming to her cheeks. The lump in her throat is making her nauseous. She tries to take a deep breath, chokes on it, and suddenly her mind is a maelstrom of screams and guilt and memories and _Naruto's body on the ground, void of any chakra, his blue eyes wide open and staring blankly at a sky he'll never see again—_

 

"I'm going for a walk," she manages to say in the silence, barely sparing a thought for Ibiki. She vanishes in a puff of smoke.

 

 

 

When Ibiki finds her, a couple of hours later, she already destroyed a training ground. There are chunks of earth scattered everywhere, when it's not entire trunks piled where they would be easier to access when she wants to throw things. In the middle of the chaos, Sakura is curled in a ball and shaking badly.

He can't make out what she mumbles, but her breathing is laboured and the smell of vomit pains his sensitive nose. It's the worst panic attack he's seen from her, and the one when he cut her hair was bad enough that she almost slit his throat.

Ibiki kneels besides her and waits. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, she relaxes and finds control over her breathing. Her eyes are still wide open, pupils blown with tear tracks drying on her cheeks, but she finally looks calm enough. Ibiki gets up and offers his hand. Sakura takes it without a sound, her eyes lost somewhere he can't follow.

Ibiki tugs her toward the village, away from the destruction and, hopefully, the memories. Sakura takes a long look at the Hokage mountain and she starts to laugh. Ibiki raises an eyebrow and stops walking, waiting for an explanation.

 

Sakura shakes her head. "Naruto always was my moral compass. I admit that I have a hard time finding the North now."

 

He frowns, choosing not to pick on the strange wording, because there is a weird spark in her eyes and he feels like something terribly important just happened. He now needs to pay enough attention not to miss the explanation. Besides him, Sakura seems to pull herself together and she offers him a shaking smile.

 

"Would you like to come for tea? I didn't really wait for you to train, but you can still get the reward if you'd like."

 

Tea and pastries, their ritual after a hard workout. He knows it's one of the only instances where she drinks tea. The number of times he's seen her in a shinobi bar at four in the morning with a bottle of sake is reaching three digits. So when Sakura invites, Ibiki follows. And tries not to think of the pattern they're establishing.

 

 

As usual, the tea is bitter and the biscuits are overly sweet. Ibiki fails to mention how much he likes it, but Sakura never seems to miss the satisfaction when it appears briefly on his face. Naruto is nowhere to be seen and they carefully avoid the matter. But they're shinobi, not creatures of small talk, and their conversation quickly stirs toward more risky subjects.

 

"—and Anko barges in with all of her natural grace, yelling about one thing or another, only to find them on the couch in a questionable position."

"You mean that they were fucking."

Ibiki sighs. "Yes, they were. Of course, she's laughing so hard she eventually starts choking and they have to untangle themselves in order to help her. That only makes her laugh harder, and they told us she passed out from the lack of air."

"My next pay that they punched her hard enough to knock her out," Sakura smirks.

"That wouldn't surprise me on Aoba's part, but I have a hard time picturing Hatake doing that."

"Nah, he would probably haunt her sleep for the next decade or something."

"Well, rest assured that the vivid descriptions Anko provided us when she came back are enough to haunt _my_ sleep for the next decade."

 

It's Sakura's turn to laugh, a deep sound that stretches her mouth and twists her scar in something ugly and grotesque. Ibiki can't take his eyes of her and she notices. She takes a breath, still chuckling lightly, and considers.

Because he's here, he's not going anywhere. He makes her laugh and calms her down, and punches her in the face when she needs it the most. And he doesn't mind her scar. ( _so why would he mind knowing whose katana cut deep into her flesh, sectioning a piece of her tongue and ripping apart her lips while that bastard laughed—_ )

She's faster than any civilian could ever hope to be, but Ibiki is skilled enough that he surely has the time to anticipate what she is about to do. And yet he doesn't move, not until she kneeling between his thighs, her lips faintly brushing his. Only then does he slip his fingers into her hair to press her closer.

They pour a lot of bitterness and pain into the kiss, because it's such a big part of them that they can't live without expressing it. But there is trust and playfulness in the battle of their tongues and a measure of fondness where their hands brush against feverish skin.

Sakura rises slowly, dragging Ibiki with her without interrupting their kiss. She walks backwards to the wall, then slips into her room and expects Ibiki to follow. He doesn't disappoint.

When clothes are scattered on the floor and their lips map the network of scars on each other's body, Sakura stop him. She's on her back, her legs parted to allow him to be on top of her. She looks him right in the eyes and gently caresses his cheek.

 

"Before we go any further, I should mention that this is probably going to be the most vanilla sex you've ever had in your life."

Ibiki raises an eyebrow. "Not very kinky?"

"Not really," she snorts. "I'm the textbook example of 'too many triggers'. Trust me, you don't want that in your bed."

 

Ibiki looks suddenly serious and backs off, sitting next to her. She sighs and imitates him, knowing that there is no getting out of this.

 

Ibiki rests his cheek on his palm and smiles at her. "I'm listening."

"Oh gods. A fan of communication." When Ibiki opens his mouth with an offended look, she raises a hand. "Hey, it's a good thing, okay? I'm just not used to it. Sarcasm is a defence mechanism."

"Trust me, I know," he smiles.

"Okay, uh, so. Don't hold me down. Like, ever. No hair-pulling. Hair touching of any kind, actually. And I'm not a fan of dirty talk."

Ibiki looks surprised. "Can I ask why?" Sakura makes a weird face, before answering.

"I'll tell you later. Is there anything I should know?"

 

It's his turn to look awkward, so out of place in his huge frame and scarred face.

 

"I don't like it if I can't see you, and don't touch my scars too much."

 

She hides her face in her hands and laughs lightly.

 

"Most. Vanilla. Sex. Ever."

He shoves her playfully. "Hey, don't mock the traumatised man."

She raises an eyebrow and points at herself with a smirk. "Yeah, yeah, or woman. Can we get back to the sexing part now?"

"I'm all yours."

 

 

The moon is high in the sky and Naruto still isn't home. A messenger hawk from Hiashi just arrived, saying that her child was spending the night in the Compound. Sakura and Ibiki are curled up around each other, forehead touching, quietly breathing each other's air.

She's made her decision hours ago, when he came to her at the training ground. But she's still fighting it, because she's terrified of the outcome. It makes her angry that she's about to risk everything for this man, however amazing he is. But she can't help it. And so she starts to talk.

 

"I need to tell you something," she whispers, her lips a breath away from his skin. He looks at her with an open face, like he's already accepted whatever she's about to tell him. It's the kindest anyone has been to her in more than ten years.

 

"What do you know about fūinjutsu?"

"Not much. Anko is much better than I am."

"So you don't recognize the seals on my arms," she states more than she asks. When he shakes his head, she goes on. "They come from Uzushio, lost scrolls that never made it to Konoha."

"How did a Kiri nin end up in Uzushio? I thought you couldn't go there after the attack."

She smiles sadly and takes a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "I'm not from Kiri. I was born in Konoha."

 

Ibiki stares. And stares some more.

 

"Are you from the civilian branch of your clan then?" He asks slowly, suddenly guarded.

"I'm going to ask you to trust me. I was born in Konoha, in 89. My parents were Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno."

"I don't find this funny," he says between gritted teeth.

"And we both know I'm not joking." She closes her eyes and rolls on her back. "I'm technically acting against my Hokage's orders by telling you this. So please let me finish."

 

He sits against the wall, never taking his eyes of her. She takes his silence as agreement and continues.

 

"I graduated at 12 and ended up in a team with Naruto, Sasuke and Hatake. But that's not when everything went to shit. In 95, Itachi murdered his entire clan, only sparing his brother. He deserted and joined an organisation called Akatsuki, whose ultimate goal was to wake up the goddess Kaguya and let her take back all the chakra in the world. Naruto and I spent our whole life fighting against their plans, after Sasuke deserted the village as well."

 

She tells him about Orochimaru, how in her reality he became a crazy nukenin experimenting on children. She tells him about Sarutobi, Hokage again and killed during the invasion. She tells him about Tsunade, Gaara, Sasori, Pain and Jiraya. She cries when she speaks of Sasuke and his mad quest for revenge. But her eyes are dry and her smile fierce when she speaks of her training.

 

"She used to send rocks at my face to teach me how to avoid. I invented antidotes and medicines and ended up running the hospital. I was the one who kept Naruto alive by making his heart beat with my bare hand."

 

She looks at her hands, scarred and calloused, and her smile turns bitter.

 

"Now I can't even use medical chakra anymore. Naruto gave me every ounce of Kurama's chakra he had left. The seals channelled everything but it burned most of my chakra coils. I'm a fucking reservoir of chakra, but my control is shit. I could carve a glass flower with a finger, and now all I can do is punch trees."

 

She rubs her hands against her eyes and sighs.

 

"Naruto was half-dead after Kaguya's last assault. He used the last of his strength to give me his chakra. Kakashi activated the seals and the sharingan was the final push to send me back. I woke up on a battlefield during the Third War, on Kiri's side. So I laid low and I waited for the right opportunity. I 'deserted' and joined Konoha, and you know the rest. Officially, I'm on a S-rank to stop all of that from happening. So far, it worked."

 

Ibiki is silent for a very long time, before shifting slightly. What he whispers next freezes her on the spot.

 

"Did you kill Danzō?"

 

Her breath gets caught in her throat and she swallows. That's the only thing she's truly ashamed of in this life.

 

"I pushed a ROOT operative into rebellion long enough to do the job, but his brainwashing came back. I— I gave him a slow acting poison and henged him into an ANBU. He was dead before anyone could find him."

 

Ibiki remains silent, seconds ticking by as she holds her breath. Finally, he nods once before moving on to another question.

 

"Did the Fourth know? Does anyone know?"

"I told Minato, yeah. I needed at least one person on my side. He left a letter for his successor, so Shikaku knows too. I don't know who he told, though."

"Damn, Haruno, you know this is crazy, right?"

She laughs dryly. "Like I don't know that. I'm living it. And I'm sure as hell not the most qualified in my promotion, but I had the bad luck of being the only one left when it was time to go. You gotta do what you gotta do, I guess."

 

Ibiki lies down on the bed again and pats the space besides him. She curls up next to him, the faint light of the early morning casting strange shadows on their faces.

 

"Can I tell you one last thing?"

He smiles, his scars catching the ray of light. "Go ahead."

"I had no way of knowing if I would already exist in this reality. I didn't want people asking weird questions, so I only gave my last name to Minato."

He raises an eyebrow. "How come I never noticed that?"

"I'm just that good."

"Of course you are."

 

She shifts a bit, her eyes getting lost on the way her pale fingers contrast with his darker skin.

 

"My name is Haruno Sakura."

"Do you want me to call you that?"

She chuckles softly, and whispers: "I'd like that very much."

 

 

In the next room, Naruto quietly sneaks in by the window, carrying a box of umeboshi and sweets. He aches in all the wrong places, where Neji kicked his ass when he told him what happened. But the aching is good, better than the guilt he can still feel crawling in his stomach. Naruto sets his small bag on the floor and goes to the kitchen. He has an apology breakfast to make, and a smile to get out of his mom.

 


	5. Chuunin Exam + 3 months

The morning sun is warm on her naked breast, her breath catching in her throat every time Ibiki follows the path of sunlight on her skin with his mouth. Her hair spills around her head like a halo and she giggles, Ibiki's tongue tickling her side.

 

"C'm here, c'm here," she almost laughs as he rises from her ribs to kiss her. She wraps her legs around his waist, still covered in the jōnin-issued pants he wears during the night.

"Stop it, come on, it tickles."

"Yeah? Like this?" And he's at it again, this time with his fingers, and he swallows her laugh every time he kisses her.

 

She fumbles with his pants for a bit before sliding them off his hips and down his legs. She doesn't linger on the scars littered on the brown skin and pushes the pants off with her feet. He goes down again, this time dropping feathery kisses alongside her jaw. Ibiki stops a second to look at her, the ugly scar on her face twisting her smile in something unsettling. It only makes him grin wider, to see the happiness and pleasure on her usually hard face. His mouth finds her neck and he wraps his hands around her wrists to stop her wiggling.

One second later, chaos erupts in the room. A knee slams into his ribs and sends him flying, landing harshly on the wall. Ibiki's on his feet immediately, scanning the house for chakra signatures. He can't find anything, save for his and Sakura's, who— oh.

Sakura is on the opposite side of the room, pacing and making wide gestures with her hands, like she does when her nail polish dries. Her breathing is erratic and tears are streaming down her face. She's mumbling things and shakes her arms harder, before scratching her forearms like she's trying to get something off.

Ibiki takes a step, careful and slow, then another one. Sakura doesn't stop pacing, but her head jerks in his direction. She's shaking.

 

"D- don't. Don't touch me, or I'll punch you. I don't w-want to punch you, so stay b-back."

 

He sees her taking huge breathes, obviously trying to calm herself. She looks up to the ceiling, blinking back her tears and breathing harder. She's still scratching her skin and deep red marks are beginning to appear. Ibiki bites his tongue, not wanting his words to send her back into frantic panic.

 

"Sakura, can I sit next to you?"

 

She looks at him again and her shoulders shake harder, but she nods briefly. Ibiki finishes crossing the room and kneels a metre from her, his back on the wall. Sakura keeps pacing, the mumbling quieting slowly until only her heavy breath breaks the silence in the room. Finally, she drops her arms and squeezes her hands into fists. She stands still for a while, her back on Ibiki. He watches her, his heart clenching every time her shoulders tremble.

Then she's right here, kneeling in front of him, her hands safely secured in her lap. He looks at her swollen scar, watches her eyebrows twitch when she tries to prevent her tears. Ibiki feels sick. Her breath hitches, and she slowly extends a hand towards him. He takes it, gentle like he rarely is, and waits for her to accept his touch. Little by little, she relaxes. She releases a breath and closes her eyes. Without warning, her head falls on his shoulder and he presses his cheek against her hair.

The hug looks like a dance, hands brushing but barely touching, knees opening to accommodate the other, arms wrapping around each other and hanging on.

 

"I told you it was a bad idea to hold me down," she whispers, a faint tremor in her voice.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura. I didn't realize I was doing it."

"I know. It's alright. We can't get it right all the time."

"Maybe, but you never fucked up with me."

"Morino, stop it. It's fine. I'm not angry at you, okay? You have nothing to do with my trauma and I'm not going to start blaming you now."

"Okay."

"Good."

"Good."

She snickers and presses closer, like she's trying to melt against him. "Wow, it's been so long since I had a proper hug."

"Tell me about it," he smiles, shaking his head lightly.

"Wanna go back to vanilla sex?"

 

He backs off gently, looking at her. She's smiling, not as wide as she was before, but still enough to twist her scar. He knows what a huge sign of trust it is. So he shrugs and nods, and Sakura laughs. She catches him around the waist and throws him over her shoulder. He yelps, the breath knocked out of him, until she drops him on the bed. Sakura crawls on the covers next to him, a wicked grin on her face when she notices his offended expression.

 

"You're a menace."

"I know, right?"

 

Ibiki huffs and rises on his knees, moving until he's between her thighs. Her smile vanishes and she looks at him with deadly serious eyes. He kisses the delicate skin of her inner thigh and she lets out a small breath. Ibiki smiles.

 


End file.
